October 13

October 11

Water Levels - From October 8, 2005 through October 19, 2005, releases are scheduled return to the 6,500 to 9,000 cfs fluctuating flow regime.  From October 20, 2005 through October 31, 2005 scheduled releases return to the steady 8,000 cfs regime to complete the test. 

The monthly release volume in October 2005 is 500,000 acre-feet.   In November 2005, the volume of water scheduled to be released is also 500,000 acre-feet.  In November releases are likely to vary between a low of 5,000 cfs during night time "off-peak" hours, to 10,000 cfs during day time "on-peak" hours.

October 8

October 4

September 30

A co-worker of mine, who works at Starbucks as well, was able to score us some FREE coffee. I have 5lbs of beans of some Sul-blah-blah blend, described as deep,
dark and delicious. I can get this ground and portioned for the trip. i'll need to know how much per portioning (a cup per day, 3 cups? what?). I don't drink coffee so will need some advice.

And, i'm not sure what the overall need is. is 5lbs of beans enough for 21 days of breakfasts and some evening coffee, too? If not, then, paul, you'll have to pick up some more at sam's.

Let me know what you think

Melanie

+++++++++++++++++++

September 29

September 28

Response has been unanimous from those I heard from - I've arranged to rent a satellite phone for the trip.  Thanks for your feedback!

September 27

September 26

September 23

September 21

September 7th 

1. ASAP, please post a short note to the group on your basic menu plan so that people can see if there is too much redundancy.  Don't worry about redundancy of lunches as there is only so many simple ways to go.
2. The absolute, no excuses DEADLINE for your spreadsheet is September 23rd.  That gives me a month to go over each meal, make suggestions/refinements, total everything, and plan the packing.
3. Each meal will be in its own rocket box (that you have provided and packed).  Garbage from your meal/camp will also go into these containers.  Thus, when you pack, remove any unnecessary packaging to minimize the garbage, but don't forget to keep any directions you need.
4. Coolers will be packed based on several days worth of meals.  For example, cooler #1 may hold days 1 - 4, cooler #2 days 5 - 8, and so on.  In this way, only one cooler will need to be opened up at a time saving the ice in the other coolers.
5. Keep your menus simple.  Due to the time of year, we'll be cooking many of the dinners in the dark, and breakfasts will be starting before the sun is up.  You WILL be on the cook crew for your meals.
6. On the other hand, make sure you menus are healthy and filling.  One way to make enemies on a GC trip is poor planning and/or not having enough food.  Also keep in mind that if your meal involves meat, a meatless option or alternative needs to be provided.  The only other item I can remember being a concern to some is milk, but I don't think that will be much of a problem for them to avoid.
7. On the spreadsheet, when entering the quantity, try to use weight.  For example, do not say "Tomatoes - 5."  5 Roma tomatoes is a lot different than 5 Beefsteak tomatoes.  Don't guess!  Go to the grocery store, eyeball what you'll need for 16 people and weigh it!  The reason I am asking for weights, is I may do some bulk shopping of some cooler items at a Sam's Club on the way to Page.  If the item comes in cans, again, be specific.  Calculate the total ounces, weight, or whatever the common measurement for that item is. 
8. For some items, count may be the only way to go - for example eggs.  Use your common sense.  Some items, like tomatoes, will be easier to buy by the case rather than individually.
9. List EVERYTHING you will need for your meal - don't assume anything. 
10. Planning on a Dutch Oven?  What size and/or how many will you need?  I have a 12" and a 14" I'm planning on bringing.  Don't forget to put CHARCOAL on your list if you are.  PS - I'm a big fan of desserts.  :-)
11. Also keep in mind the amount of space your meal will take.  Get your 20 mil box and look at it.  Will all your dry items fit in it?  Take it to the grocery store with you if necessary and see if everything will fit.  Do not worry about bread or eggs, there will be separate containers to hold those items. 
12. Make sure you read any directions necessary for your meal and list those items.  For example - to bake brownies, it takes a couple of eggs.  Eggs should be on your menu list.
13. Boat owners - I recently read that the best way to have ice the longest is to freeze those 2.5 gallon water containers that your find at the grocery store in the bottled water section.  The block ice sold in stores is made from compacted cube ice, thus has lots of air in it.  This causes it to melt faster.  Also, by having your ice in a container, the melted water is contained.  If the water is in your cooler and then you drain it, that just creates more airspace that the remaining ice has to cool.  Thus, purchase a couple of these jugs and see how they fit in your cooler.  What I'd like to do is then have what we need frozen for us by a Page grocery store.

July 26th

RRFW Riverwire – THEFTS AT LEES FERRY, AZ

Release date: July 27, 2005

Last week, thefts were reported at the boater’s campsite at Lees Ferry, AZ, the put-in for rafting the Colorado River through Grand Canyon National Park. The thefts occurred on two separate days. Stolen were 4 backpacks in one incident and a cot in another, both apparently while the noncommercial groups were having dinner at nearby Marble Canyon Lodge.

Although 3 of the 4 backpacks were later recovered by the side of the put-in road, all valuables had been removed. According to NPS sources, no one suspicious was seen in the area around the time of the thefts.

The NPS notes that there had been only 2 thefts at Lees Ferry in the last 5 years until the two most recent incidents. Park sources suggest that river parties leave someone at the put-in campsite at all times, or leave for dinner in two separate groups. In instances when the entire party must attend the mandatory orientation lecture (trips are sometimes allowed to leave one member with recent experience behind to serve as a guard), all valuables should be taken along to the ranger’s orientation trailer.

July 17th

From some posts on the GCPBA Yahoo! Group about changes in Hermit Rapid -

"I had heard from a friend that something has changed in Hermit, that there is a monster living in the tail waves. So at 18K we stopped to look at it. The fifth wave (the one my wife refers to as Godzilla) was as big as ever. It looked plenty runnable but troublesome every minute or so when
it would explode violently like it usually does at that stage. The tenth wave, however, was about half again bigger than the fifth wave and was breaking big all the time. We watched in amazement as four big motor rigs came through and were all stalled by it and two of them spit out to the right. We decided to run in two groups and take pictures. The first boat had decided to go for it. He was thrown left after the fifth wave and missed the tail waves. The second intentionally ran left
and missed everything. On my run I attempted to sneak left but didn't start early enough. I was surfed right into the middle and ran everything. We some how stayed upright in numb er ten but I am still not sure how as it was so stinking BIG. Going into it looked like a white out. I have more proof now that God loves a fool. Has anyone else noticed this little change? Is it really a change or
just a phenomenon that appears at a specific level? I ran Hermit in April at 20K and didn't notice it as I cheated right."

----

" Our trip saw it about June 17 or 18 and we were just as surprised as you. It was the talk of the canyon. Most of the speculation was that a boulder/s was washed down from the flood last winter and the wave was just showing up with the higher flows that started in June. Three of our 8 boats ran all of the middle and one flipped in this new wave. Got some great video and stills of her going over. I heard it called everything from the 7th to 11th wave but there is no mistaking what one every one was talking about. We were told it really got a commercial trip a day or two behind us. Flipped a couple of boats and lost some stuff. "

----

"On my last trip we ran Hermit on the afternoon of June 18th, and it did indeed appear a bit different. We had a long day on the water, starting above Unkar, and were running on the peak flow... around 17 or 18k cfs, so we'd seen some great action. From many previous trips, I was under the impression that the 5th wave didn't really pose much of a problem at this water level, and - on the contrary - the waves would be about as big as they get before they start breaking hard, and flipping boats. So as we entered the rapid, I told the folks in my boat "This will be the Grand Finale!"

The fifth wave, to my surprise, was breaking fairly hard, enough to bite off most of my momentum. I was rowing an 18' Avon Super-Pro bucket boat, which with four passengers, myself, and gear for a 13 day trip probably weighs a ton or more. And then I noticed another, even
bigger, breaking wave that I don't remember seeing before...

That one stopped us altogether, and as we sat there stalled on top of the beast, it occurred to me (and everyone else in the boat) that if we slipped backwards it was all over. But the gods smiled, and after a longish pause we slid on downstream. We were all whooping and hollering about our good fortune when I noticed that the paddle boat in front of us was upside down.

AzRA paddle boats are 18' self-bailing Sotars, and carry a guide, six passengers, and a substantial load of gear as well - big and stable enough to run the gut of Hermit most of the time without any problem. But not this time.

We thought the problem wave was the 8th one, but - since we weren't expecting it - could be that it was the 10th, or some other number. We didn't scout from shore as it was late in the day and we were expecting that Hermit would just be a big, great, and relatively forgiving ride at that level. I can't remember ever counting the waves at Hermit, I'm always concentrating on trying to hit them straight, or - once in awhile - cheat the biggest ones when there's a good chance a flip is in the works.

But yeah, seems like something is different than it used to be....

June 30th

From a post on the GCPBA Yahoo! Group - Mountain Lions in GCNP:

"Nov 1 2004, about 7:30 a.m., I observed what I could only conclude were very fresh (overnight or that morning) Mt. Lion tracks on the beach at Boucher Canyon Rapids where the boats typically take out (upstream from rapids & Boucher Creek). My thought was this might be frequented visit point for picking up any food items left by boaters. Marks from the boats were covered by the more recent tracks, as if scouring that section of beach, only. Out party of six was camped further downstream in the commonly used area. We were pleasantly visited after dusk by 4 or 5 ringtail cats. One decided to sit on my 250 lb 33 y/o son's face after midnight, only to be catapulted many feet skyward after he realized this was not home and this was not the house cat. Also, about 8:00 a.m. 3 mountain goat walked in from the west canyon side back up their well used trail on east canyon side, a trail line that comes within 200 feet or less of the site of the tracks. Thus there is seemingly plenty of game to sustain Mt. Lion in the Boucher Canyon area. Yet, I was rather surprised, both by the size of the tracks and because I thought they were somewhat scarce and mainly on the North Rim. I live in Chattanooga and have had a fair amount of experience with black bears and wild boar in the Appalachians, and I fear not to hike solo. They are easy to scare off, with rare exception (i.e., the time an over-protective boar chased me until out of range from his little ones). But I have no experience with the big cats. Is there a web site that posts Mt. Lion / Cougar sightings and population levels in GC area?"

Reply - "Indeed, the lions are throughout the park. A mountain lion was hit by a car last night between Desert View and the New Hance trailhead. There are 4 lions with radio collars in the park at this time. One of them was on the south rim this spring, and has since gone from the rim to the river west of the village, then went (swam) across the river, and hiked up to the North Rim, where she is roaming now. The actual population of lions at GC is unknown. Their habits are only now being studied here at GRCA. There is no web site with this info up at this time."

June 27th

Books